Historical Geology (with CengageNOW Printed Access Card)

by Wicander, Reed; Monroe, James S.

• ISBN13: 9780495012047
• ISBN10: 0495012041
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-10-10
• Publisher: Brooks Cole

Summary

HISTORICAL GEOLOGY teaches students basic geologic principles as well as how scientists apply these principles to unravel Earth's history. Wicander and Monroe present a balanced overview of both the geological and biological history of Earth as a continuum of inter-related events. These events reflect the underlying principles and processes that have shaped our planet. The authors also explain the historical development of these basic principles and processes, and their importance in deciphering Earth history. Three major themes – time, evolutionary theory, and plate tectonics – are woven together throughout the book. These themes help students link essential material to enhance their understanding of historical geology.

Table of Contents

The Dynamic and Evolving Earth	1	(15)
Introduction	2	(2)
What Is Geology?	4	(1)
Perspective 1.1 Interpreting Earth History	5	(1)
Historical Geology and the Formulation of Theories	5	(1)
Origin of the Universe and Solar System, and Earth's Place in Them	6	(3)
Origin of the Universe---Did It Begin with a Big Bang?	6	(1)
Our Solar System---Its Origin and Evolution	6	(2)
Earth---Its Place in Our Solar System	8	(1)
Forming the Earth---Moon System	8	(1)
Why Is Earth a Dynamic and Evolving Planet?	9	(2)
Organic Evolution and the History of Life	11	(1)
Geologic Time and Uniformitarianism	11	(2)
How Does the Study of Historical Geology Benefit Us?	13	(1)
Summary	13	(3)
Earth Materials---Minerals and Rocks	16	(19)
Introduction	17	(1)
Matter and Its Composition	18	(2)
Elements and Atoms	18	(1)
Bonding and Compounds	18	(2)
Minerals---The Building Blocks of Rocks	20	(1)
How Many Minerals Are There?	21	(1)
Silicate Minerals	21	(1)
Other Mineral Groups	21	(1)
Rock-Forming Minerals and the Rock Cycle	22	(1)
Igneous Rocks	23	(3)
Texture and Composition of Igneous Rocks	23	(1)
Classifying Igneous Rocks	23	(3)
Sedimentary Rocks	26	(3)
Sediment Transport, Deposition, and Lithification	26	(1)
Types of Sedimentary Rocks	26	(3)
Metamorphic Rocks	29	(2)
The Agents of Metamorphism	29	(1)
Types of Metamorphism	30	(1)
Classifying Metamorphic Rock	30	(1)
Plate Tectonics and the Rock Cycle	31	(2)
Earth Materials and Historical Geology	33	(1)
Summary	33	(2)
Plate Tectonics: A Unifying Theory	35	(25)
Introduction	36	(1)
Early Ideas About Continental Drift	36	(1)
Perspective 3.1 Oil, Plate Tectonics, and Politics	37	(4)
Alfred Wegener and the Continental Drift Hypothesis	38	(1)
Additional Support for Continental Drift	38	(3)
Paleomagnetism and Polar Wandering	41	(1)
How Do Magnetic Reversals Relate to Seafloor Spreading?	42	(3)
Plate Tectonics and Plate Boundaries	45	(7)
Divergent Boundaries	46	(1)
An Example of Ancient Rifting	47	(1)
Convergent Boundaries	48	(3)
Recognizing Ancient Convergent Boundaries	51	(1)
Transform Boundaries	51	(1)
What Are Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes?	52	(1)
How Are Plate Movement and Motion Determined?	52	(1)
What Is The Driving Mechanism of Plate Tectonics?	53	(2)
How Are Plate Tectonics and Mountain Building Related?	55	(1)
Terrane Tectonics	55	(1)
How Does Plate Tectonics Affect the Distribution of Life?	55	(2)
How Does Plate Tectonics Affect the Distribution of Natural Resources?	57	(1)
Summary	58	(2)
Geologic Time: Concepts and Principles	60	(17)
Introduction	61	(1)
How Is Geologic Time Measured?	61	(1)
How Has the Concept of Geologic Time and Earth's Age Changed Throughout Human History?	62	(1)
Perspective 4.1 Geologic Time and Climate Change	63	(1)
What Are Relative Dating Methods, and Why Are They Important?	64	(2)
Fundamental Principles of Relative Dating	64	(2)
Establishment of Geology as a Science---The Triumph of Uniformitarianism over Neptunism and Catastrophism	66	(2)
Neptunism and Catastrophism	66	(1)
Uniformitarianism	66	(1)
Modern View of Uniformitarianism	67	(1)
Lord Kelvin and a Crisis in Geology	68	(1)
What Are Absolute Dating Methods, and Why Are They Important?	68	(6)
Atoms and Isotopes	68	(1)
Radioactive Decay and Half-Lives	69	(3)
Long-Lived Radioactive Isotope Pairs	72	(1)
Fission Track Dating	72	(1)
Radiocarbon and Tree Ring Dating	73	(1)
Summary	74	(3)
Rocks, Fossils, and Time---Making Sense of the Geologic Record	77	(24)
Introduction	78	(1)
Stratigraphy	79	(6)
Vertical Stratigraphic Relationships	79	(2)
Lateral Relationships---Facies	81	(1)
Marine Transgressions and Regressions	81	(3)
Extent, Rates, and Causes of Marine Transgressions and Regressions	84	(1)
Fossilization and Fossils	85	(2)
How Do Fossils Form?	86	(1)
Perspective 5.1 Fossils and Uniformitarianism	87	(4)
Fossils and Telling Time	88	(3)
The Relative Geologic Time Scale	91	(2)
Stratigraphic Terminology	93	(1)
Correlation	94	(3)
Absolute Dates and the Relative Geologic Time Scale Summary	97	(1)
Summary	98	(3)
Sedimentary Rocks---The Archives of Earth History	101	(21)
Introduction	102	(1)
Sedimentary Rock Properties	102	(5)
Composition and Texture	103	(1)
Sedimentary Structures	104	(3)
Perspective 6.1 Determining the Relative Ages of Deformed Sedimentary Rocks	107	(2)
Geometry of Sedimentary Rocks	108	(1)
Fossils---The Biologic Content of Sedimentary Rocks	109	(1)
Depositional Environments	109	(8)
Continental Environments	109	(2)
Transitional Environments	111	(3)
Marine Environments	114	(3)
Interpreting Depositional Environments	117	(2)
Paleogeography	119	(1)
Summary	120	(2)
Evolution---The Theory and Its Supporting Evidence	122	(25)
Introduction	123	(1)
Evolution: What Does It Mean?	124	(3)
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and His Ideas on Evolution	125	(1)
The Contributions of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace	126	(1)
Perspective 7.1 The Tragic Lysenko Affair	127	(1)
Natural Selection---What Is Its Significance?	128	(1)
Mendel and the Birth of Genetics	128	(2)
Mendel's Experiments	128	(1)
Genes and Chromosomes	129	(1)
The Modern View of Evolution	130	(7)
What Brings About Variation?	130	(1)
Speciation and the Rate of Evolution	131	(2)
Divergent, Convergent, and Parallel Evolution	133	(1)
Microevolution and Macroevolution	134	(1)
Cladistics and Cladograms	135	(1)
Evolutionary Trends and Mosaic Evolution	135	(2)
Extinctions	137	(1)
What Kinds of Evidence Support Evolutionary Theory?	137	(6)
Classification---A Nested Pattern of Similarities	138	(2)
How Does Biological Evidence Support Evolution?	140	(1)
Fossils: What Do We Learn from Them?	141	(2)
Perspective 7.2 The Fossil Record and Missing Links	143	(1)
The Evidence---A Summary	144	(1)
Summary	144	(3)
Precambrian Earth and Life History---The Archean Eon	147	(19)
Introduction	148	(1)
What Happened During the Eoarchean?	149	(1)
Continental Foundations---Shields, Platforms, and Craton	150	(3)
Archean Rocks	152	(1)
Greenstone Belts	152	(1)
Perspective 8.1 Geology of Grand Teton National Park	153	(3)
Evolution of Greenstone Belts	154	(2)
Archean Plate Tecontics and the Origin of Cratons	156	(1)
The Atmosphere and Hydrosphere	157	(2)
How Did the Atmosphere Form and Evolve?	157	(1)
Earth's Surface Waters---The Hydrosphere	158	(1)
The Origin of Life	159	(4)
Experimental Evidence and the Origin of Life	159	(2)
Submarine Hydrothermal Vents and the Origin of Life	161	(1)
The Oldest Known Organisms	162	(1)
Archean Mineral Resources	163	(1)
Summary	164	(2)
Precambrian Earth and Life History---The Proterozoic Eon	166	(23)
Introduction	167	(1)
Evolution of Proterozoic Continents	168	(4)
Paleoproterozoic History of Laurentia	168	(2)
Paleo- and Mesoproterozoic Igneous Activity	170	(1)
Mesoproterozoic Orogeny and Rifting	171	(1)
Meso- and Neoproterozoic Sedimentation	172	(1)
Proterozoic Supercontinents	172	(3)
Ancient Glaciers and Their Deposits	175	(1)
Paleoproterozoic Glaciers	175	(1)
Glaciers of the Neoproterozoic	176	(1)
The Evolving Atmosphere	176	(2)
Banded Iron Formations (BIFs)	176	(1)
Continental Red Beds	177	(1)
Important Events in Life History	178	(6)
Eukaryotic Cells Evolve	178	(1)
Endosymbiosis and the Origin of Eukaryotic Cells	179	(1)
The Dawn of Multicelled Organisms	180	(2)
Neoproterozoic Animals	182	(2)
Proterozoic Mineral Resources	184	(1)
Perspective 9.1 Bif: From Mine to Steel Mill	185	(1)
Summary	186	(3)
Early Paleozoic Earth History	189	(20)
Introduction	190	(1)
Continental Architecture: Cratons and Mobile Belts	190	(1)
Paleozoic Paleogeography	191	(3)
Early Paleozoic Global History	193	(1)
Early Paleozoic Evolution of North America	194	(1)
The Sauk Sequence	195	(1)
Perspective 10.1 Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore	196	(1)
The Cambrian of the Grand Canyon Region: A Transgressive Facies Model	197	(6)
The Tippecanoe Sequence	198	(1)
Tippecanoe Reefs and Evaporites	199	(4)
The End of The Tippecanoe Sequence	203	(1)
The Appalachian Mobile Belt and the Taconic Orogeny	204	(2)
Early Paleozoic Mineral Resources	206	(1)
Summary	206	(3)
Late Paleozoic Earth History	209	(22)
Introduction	210	(1)
Late Paleozoic Paleogeography	210	(4)
The Devonian Period	211	(1)
The Carboniferous Period	211	(1)
The Permian Period	211	(3)
Late Paleozoic Evolution of North America	214	(1)
The Kaskaskia Sequence	214	(2)
Reef Development in Western Canada	214	(2)
Perspective 11.1 The Canning Basin, Australia---A Devonian Great Barrier Reef	216	(2)
Black Shales	216	(1)
The Late Kaskaskia---A Return to Extensive Carbonate Deposition	217	(1)
The Absaroka Sequence	218	(4)
What Are Cyclothems, and Why Are They Important?	218	(3)
Cratonic Uplift---The Ancestral Rockies	221	(1)
The Middle Absaroka---More Evaporite Deposits and Reefs	222	(2)
History of the Late Paleozoic Mobile Belts	224	(2)
Cordilleran Mobile Belt	224	(1)
Ouachita Mobile Belt	224	(1)
Appalachian Mobile Belt	224	(2)
What Role Did Microplates and Terranes Play in the Formation of Pangaea?	226	(1)
Late Paleozoic Mineral Resources	227	(1)
Summary	228	(3)
Paleozoic Life History: Invertebrates	231	(18)
Introduction	232	(1)
What Was the Cambrian Explosion?	232	(1)
The Emergence of a Shelly Fauna	233	(1)
Paleozoic Invertebrate Marine Life	234	(8)
The Present Marine Ecosystem	235	(2)
Cambrian Marine Community	237	(1)
The Burgess Shale Biota	238	(1)
Ordovician Marine Community	239	(2)
Silurian and Devonian Marine Communities	241	(1)
Perspective 12.1 Mass Extinctions and Their Possible Causes	242	(3)
Carboniferous and Permian Marine Communities	243	(1)
The Permian Mass Extinction	244	(1)
Summary	245	(4)
Paleozoic Life History: Vertebrates and Plants	249	(23)
Introduction	250	(1)
Vertebrate Evolution	251	(1)
Fish	251	(6)
Amphibians---Vertebrates Invade the Land	257	(1)
Evolution of the Reptiles---The Land Is Conquered	258	(2)
Plant Evolution	260	(2)
Perspective 13.1 Palynology: A Link between Geology and Biology	262	(6)
Silurian and Devonian Floras	263	(3)
Late Carboniferous and Permian Floras	266	(2)
Summary	268	(4)
Mesozoic Earth History	272	(23)
Introduction	273	(1)
The Breakup of Pangaea	273	(4)
The Effects of the Breakup of Pangaea on Global Climates and Ocean Circulation Patterns	276	(1)
Mesozoic History of North America	277	(1)
Continental Interior	278	(1)
Eastern Coastal Region	279	(1)
Gulf Coastal Region	280	(2)
Western Region	282	(5)
Mesozoic Tectonics	282	(2)
Mesozoic Sedimentation	284	(3)
Perspective 14.1 Petrified Forest National Park	287	(3)
What Role Did Accretion of Terranes Play in the Growth of Western North America?	290	(1)
Mesozoic Mineral Resources	291	(1)
Summary	292	(3)
Life of the Mesozoic Era	295	(26)
Introduction	296	(1)
Marine Invertebrates and Phytoplankton	297	(2)
Aquatic and Semiaquatic Vertebrates---Fish and Amphibians	299	(1)
Plants---Primary Producers on Land	300	(1)
The Diversification of Reptiles	300	(9)
Archosaurs and the Origin of Dinosaurs	301	(1)
Dinosaurs	301	(4)
Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs?	305	(2)
Flying Reptiles	307	(1)
Mesozoic Marine Reptiles	307	(1)
Crocodiles, Turtles, Lizards, and Snakes	308	(1)
Perspective 15.1 Mary Anning and Her Contributions To Paleontology	309	(1)
From Reptiles to Birds	309	(1)
Origin and Early Evolution of Mammals	310	(4)
Cynodonts and the Origin of Mammals	310	(2)
Mesozoic Mammals	312	(2)
Mesozoic Paleobiogeography	314	(2)
Mass Extinctions---A Crisis in the History of Life	316	(1)
Summary	317	(4)
Cenozoic Geologic History: The Paleogene and Neogene	321	(26)
Introduction	322	(1)
Cenozoic Plate Tectonics---An Overview	323	(2)
Cenozoic Orogenic Belts	325	(3)
The Alpine-Himalayan Orogenic Belt	326	(2)
The Circum-Pacific Orogenic Belt	328	(1)
The North American Cordillera	328	(9)
The Laramide Orogeny	329	(3)
Cordillera Igneous Activity	332	(1)
Basin and Range Province	333	(1)
Colorado Plateau	334	(1)
The Rio Grande Rift	335	(1)
Pacific Coast	335	(2)
The Continental Interior	337	(1)
Perspective 16.1 Shiprock, New Mexico	338	(1)
Cenozoic History of The Appalachian Mountains	339	(1)
North America's Southern and Eastern Continental Margins	339	(4)
The Gulf Coastal Plain	340	(1)
The Atlantic Continental Margin	341	(2)
Paleogene and Neogene Mineral Resources	343	(1)
Summary	344	(3)
Cenozoic Geologic History: The Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs	347	(24)
Introduction	348	(1)
Pleistocene and Holocene Tectonism and Volcanism	349	(1)
Perspective 17.1 Supervolcanoes and the Origin of the Yellowstone Caldera	350	(2)
Pleistocene Stratigraphy	352	(3)
Terrestrial Stratigraphy	354	(1)
Deep-Sea Stratigraphy	354	(1)
Onset of the Ice Age	355	(2)
Climate of the Pleistocene	355	(1)
Glaciers---What Are They and How Do They Form?	356	(1)
Glaciation and Its Effects	357	(5)
Glacial Landforms	357	(1)
Changes in Sea Level	358	(1)
Glaciers and Isostasy	358	(1)
Pluvial and Proglacial Lakes	359	(3)
What Caused Pleistocene Glaciation?	362	(4)
The Milankovitch Theory	363	(3)
Short-Term Climatic Changes	366	(1)
Glaciers Today	366	(2)
Pleistocene Mineral Resources	368	(1)
Summary	368	(3)
Life of the Cenozoic Era	371	(26)
Introduction	372	(1)
Marine Invertebrates and Phytoplankton	373	(1)
Cenozoic Vegetation and Climate	373	(4)
Cenozoic Birds	377	(1)
The Age of Mammals Begins	377	(1)
Diversification of Placental Mammals	378	(3)
Paleogene and Neogene Mammals	381	(1)
Small Mammals---Insectivores, Rodents, Rabbits, and Bats	381	(1)
Perspective 18.1 A Miocene Catastrophe in Nebraska	382	(8)
A Brief History of the Primates	383	(1)
The Meat Eaters---Carnivorous Mammals	383	(2)
The Ungulates Or Hoofed Mammals	385	(2)
Giant Land-Dwelling Mammals---Elephants	387	(1)
Giant Aquatic Mammals---Whales	388	(2)
Pleistocene Faunas	390	(3)
Ice Age Mammals	390	(1)
Pleistocene Extinctions	391	(2)
Intercontinental Migrations	393	(1)
Summary	394	(3)
Primate and Human Evolution	397	(15)
Introduction	398	(1)
What are Primates?	398	(1)
Prosimians	399	(1)
Anthropoids	400	(1)
Hominids	401	(5)
Australopithecines	404	(2)
Perspective 19.1 Footprints At Laetoli	406	(4)
The Human Lineage	407	(1)
Neanderthals	407	(1)
Cro-Magnons	408	(2)
Summary	410	(2)
Epilogue	412	(2)
Appendix A Metric Conversion Chart	414	(1)
Appendix B Classification of Organisms	415	(5)
Appendix C Mineral Identification	420	(3)
Glossary	423	(7)
Answers to Multiple-Choice Review Questions	430	(1)
Index	431